The Lightning Strike Alchemist
by emrys-ite
Summary: Ed's now not the only young state alchemist in the military, and when he gets paired up with the other one, what's going to happen? Well, something's going to explode for sure. Summary sucks, I know. No pairings so far.


Snow. I took a breath of the crisp air, feeling the cold air rush through my lungs. It was perfect. Everything was perfect. There was no way anything could go wrong. I squinted up into the sky, loving the blank grey tone it had taken on. It was so simple, unmarred and smooth. _If only life could be like that, _I thought.

But life wasn't. Life will trick you, making you think that nothing will ever change, that nothing will ever go wrong. It's smooth skating, the ice just a canvas for you to make your mark on. Then suddenly, you run over a rut and fall flat on your face. Life does that to you, and sometimes someone pulls you up. Sometimes you pull yourself up. And other times, you don't get up at all.

I am not one of those people.

I rubbed my temples, trying to focus. _It's here. All here. _I had thought everything through perfectly. There would be no ruts, not this time. I clenched my fists, feeling my emotions fire up. _Not this time. _

I wasn't going to give in. I wasn't going to give up. And this time, I wouldn't be giving. I would be gaining. I studied the small trenches that I had ever so carefully carved in the hard ground. I had been grateful for the previous nights freeze; it had cemented them into the ground so that they wouldn't be gone for quite a while. At least someone would know what had happened if something went wrong with this.

_No. _Nothing was going to go wrong. I couldn't be thinking that. Everything was perfect. I had studied the notes over and over again; I had memorized them down to the last footnote. I had decided long ago that I was going to be the first to succeed.

Rubbing my hands together in anticipation, I kneeled down on the ground. _Comprehension. _I had understood the material, bought it all with my saved up allowances from almost a year ago. I was pretty sure that I knew the droplets of my own blood as well as I ever possibly could as well. _Deconstruction. _The materials in their separate forms lay in a pile in front of me, looking almost like dirt but held much more importance to me than the ground beneath my feet did. _Reconstruction. _I felt my stomach turn. It was time to start that now.

Hands quivering, I held them a foot above the circle. _Now or never. Now or never. _I repeated the mantra in my head. _Let's start. _

Before I could talk myself out of it, I slammed my hands down onto the ground with as much force as I possibly could. Blue light began eminating from the ruts in the ground. I felt a grin spread across my face, my dark hair whipping around my face in chunks of black. It was going to work, I knew it.

But all good things have to come to an end.

Suddenly, the light grew red, and my eyes widened in shock. _No, no, NO! _Suddenly, a searing pain tore through my legs. My eyes tore down to where they rested against the ground and saw, to my horror, that they were being seemingly unraveled from my ankles. What was happening to me?

"NO!" I cried out, my cry eventually turning into a scream of pain. My arms began to burn, and my face was an expression of pure pain. They were unraveling as well. "NO!" I repeated. "HELP ME!"

Suddenly, it was all gone. The snow, the light, the pain. I was whole again, for the time being at least. I looked around. White. It surrounded me, it was all I saw. Then, I looked up and gasped. Looming above me was a door twenty times as large as I was, ominous and forboding.

_"Ah, another one. They're coming in faster now."_

I whirled around, the eerie voice thoroughly spooking me. _Another one? _ Sitting, or rather floating, in the bleak setting was the outline of a human being, with no facial features or any features at all. "Wh-who are you?" I stuttered.

_"I am all. I am one. I am you. I am truth." _It's disembodied voice echoed in my ears. It laughed upon seeing my expression. _"You have knocked upon the door, and now it is open."_

A large creaking resonated throughout the area, and I turned to see that the large door was opening. An eye opened in the blackness, and I felt hungry hands grab my arms and legs. I screamed, trying to resist.

_"Now, child, I will show you the truth." _

And then I was in, and the door slammed shut. I flew backwards, screaming all the way. The hands held me, pulled me back until I came to a startling halt. All of a sudden, images swirled around me, and I felt information being imported into my mind almost instantaneously. I saw things, that I recognized as past, saw things that felt like the future. I realized that I could use this, use all of this information to succeed.

And then it was all gone, and I was back in the white outside of the door.

"Show me more!" I yelled. "I'm so close!"

The figure began laughing. "_You have seen all you can for the toll you have paid."_

"Toll?" Then the door opened again and my arms and legs were grabbed by the hands again. I struggled, but I couldn't stop the process. "No!" I sobbed. "Please! Give them back! Give me back!"

And then I was back, laying in my own blood and without any legs or arms. I looked up, and saw two… two _things _on the ground in front of me. They weren't human, weren't what I had intended. I had turned my own siblings into something terrible. They were in pain, I could tell. I had to kill them, had to put them out of their misery. I tried to move, but all I could do was write around on the ground. Tears streamed down my face. For the first time in my life, I was utterly and completely helpless.

Not knowing what else to do, I let out a bloodcurdling scream, hoping that someone, somewhere, would hear me.

* * *

"You've assigned me a WHAT?"

Roy Mustang looked coolly at his young charge. "A partner, Fullmetal. You need someone to try and keep you in line."

Ed slammed his hands down on his superior's desk. "All they'll do is slow us down! And plus, we would've failed a long time ago if Al wasn't here to keep me on track."

Roy sighed. "She's not going to slow you down."

Ed threw his hands into the air and pivoted on his heel, pacing to the other end of the room. "Oh, so it's a she, now?" He glared at Mustang. "I hope you're not trying to get us together."

Mustang shrugged innocently. "Why would I try to do a think like that?"

Daggers shot out of the young alchemist's eyes. "Because you like to watch me squirm."

Roy rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, yes, that is true," he mused, "But that's not why I put her with you. You two have similar goals. You might actually help each other."

Ed flopped down onto a chair. "Who is she, anyway?"

Mustang flipped through a sheaf of papers on his desk, eventually pulling out one from the stack. "Her name is Maya Reynolds, age 15. Born in the South, near the border between Amestris and Aerugo." He paused. "Nowhere near Ishbal, if you're wondering.

Ed twirled a strand of hair around an automail finger. "Wasn't really thinking about it. She's part of the military?"

Mustang nodded. "She tried to enlist last month, but was turned down."

A puzzled expression came across the teen's face. "How is she part of the military, then?"

Mustang set his papers down. "Well, her title is the Lightning Strike Alchemist. I'm sure that you can infer the rest."

**Heh, this idea just kind of came out of nowhere the other night. I was wondering what would happen if there was another state alchemist as young as Ed, and thus this story was born. Oh, and this is going to be mostly based off of the manga/Brotherhood, which isn't all that different from the first series (I like brotherhood better though :3) I wanted to include our friends from Xing, and for some reason I seem to find Truth quite intriguing. Anywhoo, if you've only watched the first series there's not too much that you won't understand. You haven't met anyone from Xing yet, so I won't explain all of that yet. Truth is basically this being thing that you see at the gate. (I haven't seen the entire series or read all of the manga yet… correct me if he/she/it symbolizes anything else.) **

**Okay, I think that's everything that I wanted to get out first. This is my first story with a somewhat major OC, so I'm going to try and have fun with it. I always appreciate reviews and constructive criticism. I'll even accept flames if you've got something that you really didn't like.**

**Thanks!**

**R&R?**


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